Supermassive Black Hole Supports General Relativity

October 4, 2020

By: Haris Ahmad

Einstein’s general theory of relativity has remained at the brink edge of being proved for decades now. It still remains as a theory due to the fact that we don’t know yet, how the general theory of relativity can be reconciled with quantum physics. However, there are still countless phenomena that prove this theory. The best of them is the total Solar Eclipse that took place in 1919.

The experiment conducted on the event of this eclipse proved that light from distant objects is bent by the gravity of massive objects which in this experiment was our very own parent star, the Sun; whereby the blocking of the Sun's light allowed us to directly observe the light from the star that was behind the Sun which appeared to be in a different location than it normally is. 

However, recently researchers at the University of Arizona have found that a 'shadow' cast by the supermassive black hole that is known as M87 at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy proves that Einstein was correct. 

https://www.cbs46.com/first-photo-of-a-black-hole-supports-einsteins-theory-of-relativity/article_e97bcb42-45e3-5c3f-b07f-9df771c4fbc2.html

The team has found that the intense gravity of the Black Hole bent the fabric of Space-time which acted as a magnifying glass which caused the shadow of the black hole to appear larger than it normally should be.  

When measurements were taken, the researchers found that the size of the black hole shadow was close enough to the size predicted by the mathematics behind general relativity.  

This black hole is located 53.49 million light-years away but thanks to modern technology, scientists could uncover it and study it. This is the same black hole that the researchers studied using the Event Horizon Telescope in 2019.  

 

https://alkhaleejtoday.co/international/5059618/The-first-image-of-a-black-hole-supports-Einstein%E2%80%99s-theory-of.html

Michael Kramer, director of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and EHT collaboration member said, “Blackhole images provide a completely new angle for testing Einstein's theory of general relativity”. 

With such successful studies and discoveries, the theory of general relativity may soon become a law that would give us an extremely enhanced view of the universe.